#128 - Steel Resurgent

[Ry Vor]

This was what we would call Classic Steel as of now, on the Resurgent map, so all 15 kingdoms active with full diplomacy.

In an upset, Cloud, a newly returning player, won on Turn 22 by Secret Victory, as the Unseen Sorcerer. Joining him on the podium were VBallMichael, continuing his successful run with Silver at the helm of the Witchlord, and a nice Bronze for Acererak of the Underworld.

Post here thou 12 intrepid that survived to the end your impressions in this contest, and make your recommendations for commendation in Valhalla: Chancellor, Iron Willed, and Infamous.

[Cloud]

GAME END STATUS POINTS

PLACE KINGDOM PLAYER RESULTS-22 GRAND TOTAL
1 SO Cloud 7600 8900
2 WI Vball Michael 6175 9725
3 UN Acererak 5680 7456
4 DA Pedinski 3975 5469
5 TR DuPont 3210 4990
6 RD Damelon 2355 3978
7 BL Hamlet 1700 2900
8 DW Rowey 1300 2375
9 GI Mauler 1600 2300
10 DE Canticar 1100 1875
11 WA Jumpingfist 1100 1775
14 GN Daredevil 700 1270

When I came back to this game in February, I read Valhalla exhaustively to get a feel for the game. It was such an important part of how I prepared for playing this game, that I really want to do something special. What follows is a ridiculously long Valhalla report. I hope that it provides insight for new players yet to join, the same way that I depended on the reports of those who posted before I joined.

Chancellor - Damelon I didn't really have a mentor in this game, though several players were helpful. Damelon (mafmiller) brought me in and provided lots of tips and hints along the way.

Iron Willed - Daredevil I contacted him on turn 9, trying to sell or trade the Trollslayer and he replied that he was basically beaten already. Thireteen turns later, he's still kicking it at the end.

Infamous - Acererak As my main rival in the end game, he had obvious skills. As the captor of no fewer than 16 prisoners at the end, he earned this spot.

Cloud

[Cloud]

Part 1 - Where Is Everyone?

(SO) It was my first game since back in the day and I took the last spot in this game so I kinda had to hit the ground running but I didn’t. When it began, I wasn’t even sure where everybody started. Within a week, I had read nearly every word in the Valhalla forum. I quickly learned that SO is supposed to work something out with the RA so that’s what I did – I contacted him and we were able to work out a plan to share the region but I wasn’t able to get him to partner up with me. He said that he had tried to work with noobs before and it was too frustrating, but he was patient and generous with me and I thought if I demonstrated some competence, he would change his mind.

I was obsessed with finding out what was going on in other parts of the board and contacted lots of neighbors. I scoured the boards for clues to how experienced everyone was, even ranking all the players according to number of games played in an excel file. I made a NAP with DA, had friendly chats with BL, and identified DW as the only other new player on the board so I instantly felt a camaraderie with him. Jumpingfist as the WA was very welcoming and tried to help me get the lay of the land before the game started but ultimately set off alarm bells when he said ‘in this game we are forced enemy.’ I knew about natural enemies, but I had gotten the impression he didn’t care too much about that. Now he says he’s forced to be my enemy! I was very excitable.

I made a frankly ridiculous treaty with UN, essentially saying, among other things, that he could keep the village in R9 as long as he didn’t use anyone based there against me. I quickly bumped 2 towns in R3 and took them. From talking to the DW, I could tell he wasn’t using a priestess so I used mine to find PCs in R3 and only briefly hesitated before giving him the info. About this time, I started to get frustrated with WA Influence gains. As fate would have it, I contacted the RD looking for hints about his plans and he wrote back saying something like GI was invading R8 and that he didn’t like the idea of declared allies claiming the two biggest regions and would I like to help do something about it? Someone WANTS me to be on their side? AND wants to attack the WA?

In my mind, my next flurry of emails set a lot of wheels in motion. I shared this info with the BL and WI and they ended up joining the RD and DE against the WA/GI. I talked to the RA thinking this would be a good thing to bind us and found out that BL had taken RA starting town in R10 and RA that ‘was not inclined to think kindly of him.’ I thought – OK, if this is how the RA and I team up, that’s fine. The BL was nice to me, but the RA clearly had a fair grudge. Then the RA said something like ‘I won’t be ready to go into R10 as soon as the WA might like’ and I put on the brakes. I told him that throwing in with the WA was a mistake and we shouldn’t do it. I knew that the RD was already on the WA cap and it looked like WA/GI was not the winning horse. A few turns later, he said that he had gotten PC info from the WA and was I ready to attack the BL? No. It’s a bad idea, don’t do it. Let’s do something else. I didn’t hear from him again.

Part 2 - Beggar King at War

I was really worried about the DA. I know - that came from nowhere, but our NAP was set to end right at the beginning of Summer and I began to think that was not an accident. I began preparing to counter attack DA. Divined his PC’s, positioned troops on his border, the whole thing. I really wasn’t in on the anti WA/GI alliance. They seemed like they had things well in hand and I didn’t know what I could really contribute. I was at double hostile in R5 due to WA control and decided to just send them the divination results for the WA, wash my hands of it, and get ready to fight DA. But DA didn’t attack me and the others successfully knocked WA out of control, and my email had gotten me added into the group email chain apparently, so I just joined in where I could.

I didn’t do much. My allies were swarming WA positions and I had very little I could add. It was almost turn 10 and my gold production hadn’t increased a bit since turn 4. I took a few villages and had to ask to be allowed to take one town. My lead on the Wizard artifact I needed for my ESO had been snatched (by the UN, it turned out) so I wasn’t gonna get that either. I asked around and WI had one I could borrow but he needed it for turn 10. If I still needed it at turn 15, I could borrow it. Fine.

It was about this time that the ‘Breaking of NAPs’ controversy erupted. I became aware of it on the boards, same as everyone else. The gist is that RA had agreed to a NAP with BL without ever intending to go through with it. That ended any kind thought I had for the RA and I volunteered my aid to the BL, but was refused because they figured I had some kind of NAP with the RA, though we never had any formal agreement past initial splitting of R9. WI and BL combined to take him out. I began to get annoyed that my income was still relatively weak. To raise my wizards, I was gonna need more. WI sent out a group email about TR/AN and UN and EL being brought in on the WA/GI side and prompting greater coordination. I asked for three more PCs in R9 so I could gain the region, and the WI/BL gave me what I needed. I got my ESO, and I was finally in good shape for the first time in the game. The very next turn, UN took one of my new towns, knocking me out of control in R9. A recon of his starting R9 village revealed that he used an Agent based there to support the emmy doing the usurp, a clear violation of our treaty. I had Trollslayer and had been planning to attack the TR, but now I was all in against the UN. I took back the town and the region. I caught a WA group with P2 napping and iced the wiz before moving to one of my R5 PCs to do some leveling. After getting one to P6, my plan was to teleport back to R9 and Destroy Village on the starting UN R9 village where the UN had level 15 and 10 Agents, figuring at the least it would bump them home to R7.

But I had a comeuppance to pay for killing the WA wiz. The same turn they were going to teleport, 1SO lost the P6 and P4 wiz to an invisible WA group’s kill orders. I sent 2SO with a P5 and 2 P4’s down to Runnimede and took Cradia from the AN. It was war and I was doing it. It was turn 16 and I finally had some weight to throw around.

Part 3 - Unseen Vicory

The same turn I took Cradia, 1RD showed up at the city. An email that followed explained that the war was starting to turn bad for WI and DE and that the window for our alliance to win this thing was closing. In response, RD was going to go for Secret Victory and he needed Cradia. I was instantly on board and offered whatever help I could give. For the most part, that consisted of providing Sleep and Ward spells for RD. I gave up Cradia and moved on to UN targets in R7 with 2SO. For several turns, this is how it went. I had three emmys and 2SO down in Runnimede and was having good fun tussling with the UN, but I was also devoting several orders and most of my wizards outside of 2SO to the RD win effort, but I was eyeing my SVC at the same time as a plan B.

My SVC required 2 cities, 2 regions, 3 artifacts of different types, a higher Inf and Agent than the WA, and 100K gold on hand. Runnimede had been my idea of where that second region would be, but giving up Cradia had sunk that idea. I continued to play mostly to annoy the UN, while still helping RD in his efforts. I Conjured a Scandal against the UN and purchased his vacated spot for the same price he had paid. He ended up knocking me off with a real skeleton shortly after, but that’s the kind of stuff I was doing – annoying and kind of petty. I had taken all his R7 PC’s but for 2, killed a random wizard that just happened to be hanging out where I was going, Sleeping high level agents just to force him to either Ward or chance it. I teleported back to R9, intent on finally Destroying that village and taking a shot at killing his high level agents.

That’s when the RD contacted me and let me know that he was not gonna be able to win and was I any closer? I filled him in and, realizing that he had enough holdings in R3 to push me right to the edge of Control , he reached out to the DW to see how he’d react to the idea of me taking the region so I could go ahead and win. Turns out, being nice and expecting nothing in return in the beginning of the game was one of the most pivotal things at the end – DW agreed and wished me luck. I teleported to Hammerhold and moved emmys into the other RD holdings, but my countess who was supposed to go to the RD former capitol got bumped back home when one of my allies (I’m assuming) attacked the UN village she was in. That left me falling short with an incredibly small gap to make up, so I destroyed the village that UN took from DW the previous turn to make up the difference. I submitted my turn at the last minute and crossed my fingers.

Then I realized - I had failed to issue the Victory Check order. I hurriedly sent in a revised order form and went about my day. The turn ran really early and before I knew it, I had the results in my inbox. Jumpingfist’s (WA) congratulations email was the first thing I saw and I realized what had happened. I had won. I love that I ended up winning the game as the SO should – as a result of being Unseen basically the whole game. It truly was a team effort – thanks to RD for providing the PCs and encouragement to go for it, to DW for being cool about me snagging the region and for being so helpful in figuring out the census problem at the end, and to WI for sending me a proper artifact on the final turn so I didn’t have to worry that Keys wouldn’t count. Thanks to all for a fun game, enemy and ally alike – with a special thanks to WA and UN for being such great adversaries.

Cloud

[DuPont]

(TR) I started this game making the obligatory email to the AN. We agreed to a split of Torvale with me having control and him having Meridon. The first few turns were uneventful, though I became aware of a big war to the east with the WA/GI on one side and several other players against them. I really wanted to stay out of it - the question was if we would hit the EL, WI or GN? The GN seemed the best choice as the WI was tied up in the war and there's always advantages to having pop centers on both sides of the equator. I reconned the GN pop centers in Runnimede - I wasn't interested in fighting the UN as he had less to take and I didn't want to fight off his agents. My SVC required 4 regions with substantial, so it's not like I needed control. The AN had bad luck against the GN, but I was able to roll over him and even had to take some of the pop centers that were assigned to the AN with the understanding that this would be temporary. I eventually showed up on his capital while the AN took Cradia and played a serious game of Gnomeball, taking the town and exiling him to a village in Arcania. Many players would have quit at that point, but I was glad that he did not.
Next I got an email from the DE - we'd gotten along okay and he'd even agreed to abstain on a vote where the GN tried to kick me off the HC. He rather bluntly ordered me to stay out of the big war, pointing out that the GI/WA were overmatched and that he would be able to defeat me if I came into 8. Well, I'd made no plans at that point, but the tone of it annoyed me a bit - never tell me what I can't do! Plus, the AN and he were natural enemies and my forces were right at hand. We spoke to the UN and he agreed to throw in with us, as we'd left him alone in our Runnimede Invasion. The invasion of 8 went well - as he promised, the DE would come behind me and take the pop centers back, but I'd double back and catch his emmies - I got two of this Demon Princes and a few others that way. That let the GI take control of the region, which had been my goal. The DE capital in the Sea of Forboding got nuked and moved to a town in 10, where I landed and sacked it again.
I had been funding the WA and he was able to get his wizards to good levels. This turned out useful when the RD invaded 4. I moved back there and fought him, with the WA providing Dome and other spells as needed. I divined the RD SVC and saw he needed a wizard of a certain level to win, so I started killing them all - on the last turn, I had managed to kill the last, so it was impossible for the RD to win via SVC. I was also worried about the DA and we were taking steps to deal with that as well. The SO sort of sneaked up on us, but with a two control SVC, that's had to stop.
I enjoyed the hell out of this game - I don't really like mega-alliances, but the group I fell in with worked well together. I never felt I had any real shot at winning with substantial in 4 regions - I think that's really hard to get - but I had a lot of fun getting in other people's way. The GN made a great comeback, though I tied down his largest group to his former capital but 320ing it ever turn and managed to off some of his wizards as well.
I think that Daredevil deserves the Iron Willed award, no question!

[VballMichael]

WI - I did not enjoy this game much - lots of drama, some NAP breaking, and a constant world war - all led to lots of tension.
Having said that, a lot of fun and interesting things happened. My allies and enemies were sometimes brilliant and always honorable (one exception dealt with sufficiently elsewhere).
My only goals in this game were high wizards for the "cool" factor and learning more about artifacts. Sadly, right from the start there was a world war brewing. It started with the GI suggesting to the DE that the GI should own Arcania. I had worked with both players in the past and really did not want to join. But peace was not an option. I decided to join the DE mostly because I heard the RD had joined and since the GI is my natural enemy and was the initial aggressor. Things escalated, stuff was said, fights broke out in bars all over.
Our alliance eventually also got the BL (and much later the SO). We had the advantage early, hurting the GI and WA severely. But then the TR and AN jumped in, and the UN (though he kept sending emails claiming he was neutral lol). The RA jumped in independently on the other side (attacking the BL during a NAP), and we (WI and BL) took every RA pop center in 2 turns.
But the tide was turning. The TR made enough difference in Arcania to get the GI in control, and the AN made an excellent invasion to take Northern Mists from me. Due to my ignorance, I did a couple of things wrong, and the AN was able to take advantage and eliminate my top wizards (including a P10 - by the way, no spells at 10). The RD continued to be very successful and at one point it appeared he could win. Actually, there was a turn when he met all SVC requirements, but he did not expect the TR to forego an attack that turn, so he did not declare. Oh well. Then he tried a couple of turns later and just barely missed. The opportunity then evaporated.
Long tired of this game, I asked who else in our alliance might be close to declaring since I had second place locked up with 17 artifacts (think I had most status points even at end of game). Turns out Cloud was close (his write-up lays that out nicely). Though he joined us a little later, he was an excellent and eager teammate and earned his victory here. Grats to Cloud.
Ok, for Iron-willed: Daredevil (GN) and Canticar (DE) - both continued to fight for honor and to keep attention off the RD and then the SO.
For Chancellor, I have to go with Mauler (GI). Even while we were beating on him, he happily answered some game questions for me.
For Infamous, I have to go with Yellowbeard (AN). He got a slow start, not hurting the GN much in his first invasion, but he picked up steam and virtually eliminated me (fortunately I already had the artifacts ).
On a final note, I did not like two giant alliances at constant war, but I am pleased that spots 1 and 2 went to the alleged evil alliance.

[Jumpingfist]

(Warlock)
Game started out great i had control of Amberland on turn 3 with 100k+ production. I had a game long alliance with the Giant (Mauler). Mauler is truly an excellent ally/mentor he was always working and never gave in. Having an ally like Mauler kept the game fun even though for a long period I had only one town. The Red Dragon Damelon had landed on my capital T3.RD and I had already exchanged many emails and I enjoyed our talks. Rumor he landed on my capital spread like wildfire and in the end he was the critical piece the DE needed to get others to join there cause. Still Damelon was very honorable and respectful even though we were to become mortal enemies. Knowing a 5 on 2 situation was coming my goal was that the RD and DE did not win or place on the podium. The next few turns the DE would have to handle the Giant invasion Arcania. RD and WI would would take me on with the GN providing resources. I saw the GN allied with RD so I had to prepare if he came politically, which he never did the Troll and AN had quickly dispatched the Gnome in a few turns. The GN would never go away as many have said already. The initial assault was slow they were also not prepared and the BL had to still capture his own region. Around T5 the BL had his army group in my region and was claiming he was headed to help the GN. We did not buy it the GI launched some verbal warfare vs. BL which seemed to get him focused solely on the GI which was his goal to try and get some pressure off me. I also engineered it so I would only loose my capital once the entire game. I deliberately 240ed Evanon just before winter to get much needed gold to raise my wizards ahead of schedule to be able to run around invisible and make sure my capital would fall to Avalon or if lucky they would try and block it not knowing it would hit my intended target of the sea town. The GI and I kept the regional reaction of the RD and WI down so they most had to take towns by force, this allowed me to hold out until T7 when the SO showed up. My region fell T8 and they now had me over-whelmed I could no longer keep reaction levels down enough between them. I tried to recruit the RA and offered to help him vs the BL but he was pkaying Lone Ranger and not sharing PC information. I figured I was all but done in Amberland why not teleport over there. Never happened RA did his own thing for the most part. Now T8 with Amberland lost and two Wizard kingdoms breathing down my neck I turtled up and began raising defense as fast as I could for my capital. By turn 11 I was knocked down to 1 town my capital. I had the food reserve to last a few turns. Lucky around turn 10 mauler had got the other TR/AN/UN involved but they would come in a few turns. The Troll started funding some wizard research for a total of 260k between t11 and t15. That was all that was needed to finish leveling my wizards. On T14 I came out of my turtle shell to attack the DE sea capital with my military. They failed. So turn 15 I had my p6 along with my only artifact the Ring of Power done in R8 to destroy the DE capital. Knowing alamaze 50% chance is really 90% chance of escape I also located character on the DE King the same turn to feed the TR what was needed to take his capital again two turns later. The next few turns were about raising wizards and getting them into R4 to give the TR a return on his investment. on the turns there were no RDs in R4 I summoned some wights with my now two P7s.
My secondary group was in Amberland and came across the 1SO. I was invis but had no scout so did not know if he had a P7 or not that could see me invisible. I went for broke with my P5 and P4 killing two of his high wizards for the group later to find out a p6 and p4. I had just begun to have a rebirth around t18 starting to take some PCs including Evanon by force on T20 with group of 4 wights and a ghoul. When the game ended I had an invis group at Lorethane and was ready to launch a full offensive vs the DA who we thought was next in line for victory after removing the RD chances. I saw R3 go neutral on T21 and thought the DW was trying to fold to the DA but never expected the SO to jump in and claim a victory. I see now why others complain of the two region SVCs but have no problem with Cloud claiming the victory it was well earned and a good team effort. I did not mention my team mates as much as they have already been mentioned in many if the other write-ups. I do thank my allies and enemies for a great game. I am happy I did not have to eat crow with the RD winning there were some very close calls and also was able to finish I believe with the highest remaining wizards. I felt the RD played much better than his finish suggests. The RD and TR were the top Dogs in this game with the UN working his evils very effectively. They got the most attention so were knocked down in ranking. Vball was an artifact machine and an great guy, helping me better understand hunting artifacts at the same time we were at odds with each other.

Iron willed - Mauler we had the odds stacked against us do to our own doing, but he stuck with it loosing his capital at least 7 times and still was able to stay around. The final turn taking out half of the BL 36 brigade high moral 1BL group.

Chancellor - Mauler was my ally and mentor in my second game. Was always willing to explain and find a result showing an example of the question I would have. I truly look forward to being able to work with mauler again in the future.

Infamous -Damelon (mafmiller) The backbone to the Axis of Evil alliance. He dished out the most damage and got the most attention and kept on going. Without the RD this would have been a slaughter. As the RD began to fall so was the Axis of Evil.

Ok a bit much for an 11th place finish

[mafmiller]

(RD) Well, this was fun! I'll keep my commentary brief, as much has already been said. My goal at the beginning was to keep peace with the DW and GN, those the RD often attacks, and instead focus on R1 (sorry, EL!). Before I could get that going, however, DE asked for my help against the GI. I was reluctant (I had my own plans and had enjoyed my contacts with WA), but from the communications it looked like the GI was overreaching, so I did agree to come to his assistance. After that, I did what I enjoy doing best ... I communicated frequently with the other players and tried to forge a strong alliance. Although it's true that the DA was a late arrival to the official alliance, he and I had been working together from fairly early on. I had also been frequently communicating with SO and his magical assistance was crucial to my two near-wins (yes, I would have won about turn 17, but didn't realize that TR would forgo attacking Meridon). By the way, I didn't know SVC divinations could be incorrect. I never had a wizard level goal. It was WA's domes that did me in. The financial support from GN and DW was also vital. In my opinion, the most important person in the alliance was the WI. He coordinated all of our efforts and is a remarkable commander! BL was, of course, awesome against the GI, as was DE ... how did you hold out so long!?
Hmmmm .... that wasn't very brief, was it!
Congrats to SO!!!! You are an awesome player and a reliable ally.
My vote for Chancellor goes to WI, for Iron-Willed ... a tie between GN and DE and Notorious goes to GI who started the whole world war! Obviously, kudos should also go to DW for agreeing to help SO with the win.

[Mauler]

Congrats to the SO for a game well played!

I must take issue with my ally Jumpingfist (WA). He billed himself as being a returning player who hasn't played in years. However, on the first turn he pointed out an obscure nuance to a rule that played to our advantage. It was like being teamed with a newly resurfaced Bobby Fisher for a chess match! What's more, when the Tsunami of opponents piled on, he met it with humor and determination. I hope that all of my future games keep me on his good side

I will compliment our opponents for their Shock and Awe. We didn't expect quite the deluge of kingdoms that we were forced to tangle with.

A hat tip to our allies, the EL/TR/AN/UN. A worthier group of gentlemen would be hard to find.

Iron willed - The WA was reduced to a single town and responded by nuking the DE capital. 'nuff said.

Chancellor - I'll split this between the WA who coordinated our allies and the DE who brought together the axis of evil. I'll give a slight edge to the DE for the stunning number of allies that he brought to the table.

Infamous - I'm changing this title to "the Collector" and giving it to Vballmichael. Mike, two games with you and 15+ artifacts each time.... C'mon! Leave some for the rest of us

[VballMichael]

When Vball, Hamlet and Daredevil are in a game you can just assume they are allied from the start. It's a Pattern. Simply going through this forum will show you that.

Get all facts before espousing garbage. I have played in 10 games - they have been allies, enemies and neutrals, but I did help them in their first games. Now you are making it personal, Wynter.

[Ry Vor]

I'd like the Valhalla threads to be commemorative to the specific game itself, such that participants can look back on it and recall in the thread with pleasure what happened in that game, maybe years from now.

General discussion stuff should be posted on the General Discussion forum.